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Recommended for a bit of a change

I love candles, it's a female thing I think! Recently in our local garden centre I saw a display of candles that claimed to be "colour changing LED candles" which made me giddy with excitement. How could this be? Colour changing? Sounds fabulous!

I didn't buy any at the time but the idea had been firmly planted in my head so as soon as we got home I started searching online for these candles. I found some at various websites for about £10 each and thought that sounded a bit steep for a candle but then I stumbled across an ebay seller who was selling two of the small ones for £7 so I bought them.

These candles are also scented and although I was told my two were chamomile scented they actually smell like rosemary but that's fine, I like rosemary. You can buy them in a variety of colours, the candle itself is coloured as they normally are and the section that changes colour is usually the white part.

The two I bought are about 5 inches tall and cylinders but they also come in rectangles, squares and pyramids. Mine are white at the bottom and green at the top.

The box says they contain an LED unit powered by a battery and there's a fibre optic strand that runs up with the wick. It also says when not in use they have to be stored in a dark place, such as the box, so the battery doesn't run out. I admit it never occurred to me there would be a battery n these candles, I don't really know how I thought they would work!

These are not to be confused with the flameless variety that run completely on batteries, these look like completely bog standard candles with a lightable wick and burn the same as normal candles. Each of mine has approximately 20 hours of burning time, obviously the larger ones have longer.

The candles arrived, nicely boxed up and wrapped in cellophane with a ribbon tied around the top. I looked to see if there was any telltale sign of the battery or fibre optic strand but could find no trace of them. The first one I lit in the bathroom while I had a bath and laid there staring at it willing it to change colour but nothing happened!

I burnt it a few more times to see if maybe it would start changing colour a bit further down the candle but it didn't. I realised the battery on this one must be flat, it's not the kind of item that can be tested before you send it out really though is it?! You wouldn't want to receive a partially burnt candle after all!

Disappointed I got the second one out of its box and lit that. This one worked and the white section which is the lower half of the candle turns blue on and off! The rest of the candle seems to have more of an inner glow as well so they light a room really well.

I found it very relaxing to watch as the colour changed from blue back to white then blue again and have used it a few times since. Obviously it has to be stored back in its box afterwards which is a bit of a pain but they are so lovely to watch it's worth it.

I admit these are not a necessity and a bit of a fad but I'm really pleased with the one I have that works, it also smells lovely as it burns. I don't think I would buy these on a regular basis but I'm sure I'll buy more at Christmas time because they are so lovely to watch.